ROBERTO SANTIBANEZ is the chef/owner of Fonda restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn and the culinary director of Mi Vida and The Grill in Washington DC. Born in Mexico City, Chef Santibañez graduated with honors from Paris’s prestigious Le Cordon Bleu. His award-winning international career includes culinary consultant, author, and teacher.

He founded three highly acclaimed restaurants in Mexico City before serving four years as executive chef at Fonda San Miguel in Austin, Texas and five years as culinary director for Rosa Mexicano restaurants based in Manhattan. His New York City Fonda restaurants showcase Santibañez’s lifelong devotion to his native cuisine.

Chef Santibañez has authored Rosa’s New Mexican Table, nominated for an IACP and a James Beard Award. His second book Truly Mexican was named by The New York Times as one of the Notable Cookbooks of 2011. Food & Wine magazine honored his Tacos, Tortas and Tamales as one of the best cookbooks of 2012.  He serves on The Culinary Institute of America’s Latin Cuisines Advisory Council.